More than 30,000 people in Chiang Mai have received medical treatment at Nakhon Chiang Mai Maharaj Hospital for diseases related to PM2.5 air pollution during the first three months of this year, according to the Faculty of Medicine of Chiang Mai University.

According to the faculty, 30,339 patients were treated for PM2.5-related diseases, including allergies, eye infections, asthma, emphysema, nose bleeds and allergic rhinitis, compared to 12,671 patients in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, it is reported that a professor at Chiang Mai University, Professor Dr. Raweewan Olarnratmanee, dean of the Faculty of Architecture, died recently of lung cancer related to PM2.5.

In her Facebook post today, Dr. Pichaarpa Pisutserani, a lecturer at the Faculty of Political Science and Public Administration, Chiang Mai University, said that Dr. Raweewan was the latest victim of lung cancer allegedly induced by PM2.5 dust.

Three other lecturers have also died from PM2.5-related lung cancer. They were Dr. Panuwan Chanthawankoon of the Faculty of Science in 2022, Dr. Mongkol Rayanakorn of the Faculty of Science in September last year and Dr. Krittai Tanasombatkul of the Faculty of Medicine in December last year.

Several villages in Fang and Prao districts of Chiang Mai have been declared public disaster zones by Governor Nirat Pongsitthavorn since Thursday, due to raging forest fires and PM2.5 dust.